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Colonel John Bull 



(1731-1824) 




A Preliminary Study 

By, 
MRS. ANITA NEWCOMB McGEE. M. D. 

1620 P Street, Washington, D. C. 



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COLONEL JOHN BULL 



Among the early Pennsylvanians who bore the surname Bull, the most notable 
was John, Colonel in the Continental Army and Adjutant General of the province. 
Government archives, especially those of Pennsylvania, have preserved such a 
large number of facts about his life, and of his letters, that when these are gath- 
ered together and added to data preserved by his descendants one obtains a clear 
idea of his character as well as of his career. Perhaps the traits which appear 
most prominent were his great strength and untiring energy, a zeal for the cause 
of his country which no personal rebuff or adversity could diminish, sterling hon- 
esty and open frankness about himself and his affairs, with a goodly share of 
business ability. 

Although he lived to be 93, the first indication of illness which I have found 
is in the contemporary newspaper account of his wife 's funeral. She had died 
suddenly when both were 79 years old, and the husband, "although much ex- 
hausted by sickness and old age, addressed the audience " in a few words of resig- 
nation to the will of the Lord ' ' and then sank exhausted. ' ' His portrait, which 
once hung in the Peale gallery, has disappeared, but I fancy him like a certain 
familiar type of sturdy, active, bluff, Eevolutionary gentleman, his ruddy face, 
set oft' by cue and ruffles, showing the effects of a life spent mainly in the open 
and on his horse's back. The Indian chiefs of the Six Nations, who regarded 
him as their best friend in Pennsylvania, described him as "a strong man raised 
like a great tree, ' ' which is certainly suggestive. 

Thomas Bull, John's father, lived on a farm of 150 acres in Worcester Town- 
ship, and this therefore appears to have been the place where John, the oldest son, 
spent his boyhood. As he was not quite 17 when his father died, leaving to him 
with his mother the care of his two brothers and three sisters, he was presumably 
still living there when he met and married Mary Phillips of Chester County in 
1752. He was just 21 then. A year and four months previous to this, his mother, / • 
Elizabeth Addams Bull, had married in Philadelphia a young man named Thomas {J^jljOiXj, 
Eossiter, Jr., the eldest son of an apparently poor family, for they had inherited ''''*'^^^ 
no land from their deceased father. We do not know when young Eossiter - 

died, but there were no children, and no doubt Mrs. Eossiter continued to live io /s . g 
her old home with her young children. Thomas ' will had divided his farm be- ^^.^^C'^'^^ 
tween the two older sons, 100 acres to John and 50 to William, but the title not to , 

vest in them till William was 21. John added to his share in 1757 by buying six /-^i. "7 
acres adjoining it, from S. Kime, but sold this property to J. A. Meyer in Vi^'i^fi^y', ''^ 
William sold his part the following year, to the same purchaser, so I judge^^l-^A-*'*^^'^ 
William reached 21 not later than 1763. In October of the same year in whieh'^^t^L^^^ '' 
John sold the old home, his step-father bought 172 acres in Providence Township 
(when he is called "of Providence, yeoman"), so I suppose the Eossiters and the 
younger children moved then; the eldest daughter, Ann, was already married to 
Henry Newberry. 

John Bull 's possession of the brains and will power to make his way upward 
in the world is best shown by comparison with the conditions of his birth. The 
whole province advanced, but he did more than advance with it. His father and 
both grandfathers are described in deeds as "yeomen" possessing their own small 
"plantations" (the word farmer not being used then); such were likewise his 
uncles and brother William, though the latter is also described as a saddler — no 
doubt because his father 's will directed that be should be put to school till he was 
15 and then to learn a trade. John Bull, on the other hand, is described as a "gen- 
tleman," even as early as 1760. His grandfathers were English; his grandmothers 



apparently both German; and, like their neighbors, none of them had learn- d to 
write even so much as their own names — which fact in no wise hampered them i"Q 
their long and active lives as pioneers in a wild, new land. John's mother went 
a little step further, for instead of a simple cross, she wrote her initial E as 
"Her mark" in lieu of signature. 

John 's father, Thomas, however, must somehow have found a teacher, for in 
his will he proudly says that he made it with his "own handwriting." He 
thought that he knew something of the law of such matters, so when I find that he 
signed his name many times as witness to the wills of others, I suspect that his 
less learned neighbors were wont to call on him for material aid in the preparation 
of their last testaments. Thomas ' provision in his will that his younger children 
snould go to school till they were 15 shows that the eldest, our John, must also 
have had such education as the country afforded in those days. In his letters one 
sees that though the literary grace of a Franklin cannot be claimed for his pen, 
yet he was a clear and fluent writer. One of his granddaughters has left us a 
record in which she says of him and his wife: "They prospered in worldly mat- 
ters and were respected by all. Their daughters were educated at the best schools 
the city of Philadelphia afforded. Their only son was an accomplished physician 
and a good linguist." 

Socially, Colonel John 's high official positions, both civil and military, in the 
provincial government brought him in contact with the most eminent men of 
Philadelphia, which was a leading center of culture in the new world. We have 
evidence, as well as traditigp, to prove his friendship with George Washington, 
which doubtless dated from '1758, when both were officers of the Forbes expedi- 
tion to capture Fort Duquesne, where Pittsburg now stands. 

It may be of interest at this point to quote the following about Washington, 
from the Britannica:' ' ' His education was but elementary and very defective, 
except in mathematics, in which he was largely self-taught. Sparks has 'edited' 
the spelling, grammar, and rhetoric of Washington's Writings to such an extent 
as to destroy their value as evidence. ' ' Country schooling was evidently no 
better in Virginia, even among the upper classes, than it was in Pennsylvania! 

Another friend of the Colonel in Philadelphia was that learned astronomer 
and distinguished patriot and official, David Eittenhouse, whose only brother, 
Benjamin Eittenhouse, had married Bull 's eldest daughter in 1770. (Benjamin 
was superintendent of the gun-lock factory of Pennsylvania through the Eevolu- 
tion.) The four younger daughters, growing up after the Eevolution, also made 
excellent marriages. 

But whether the outspoken Colonel felt himself quite at home amid the refine- 
ments of the city society is to my mind somewhat doubtful; certainly he hastened 
away from it when his public duties were over and spent the rest of his days 
about as far from it as his pioneer instincts could take him, in what he called ' * a 
Distant Land." 

LIST OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS HELD BY COLOISTEL JOHN BULL 

1758, May 12, to early 1759. Captain of a company (of about 55 men) in his Majesty's 
Third Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment ("Provincial Forces"), with service in 
command of Fort Allen and on the Forbes expedition which captured Fort Duquesne — 
a bloodless victory, which Bancroft considers of the "greatest importance" and which 
was due to Captain Bull's negotiations with the Indians. 

1759, April 29, to . Recommissioned Captain in the same battalion; military service not 

known. 

1775, November 25, to 1776, January 20. Having applied for appointment as Quartermaster 
to the army, or in command of a battalion, in the Continental Army about to be organ- 
ized, he was elected by the Continental Congress as the first Colonel of the First Penn- 
sylvania Battalion raised for defense of the colonies. He had under him eight compa- 
nies of 79 men each, or a total of 1500 men. The Continental Congress received a 
Memorial from the Captains and Subalterns of this battalion "complaining of the con- 
duct of Colonel Bull," and referred it to a committee. January 19th, marching orders 
to Canada received. January 20th, Congress heard a Memorial from Colonel Bull beg- 
ging leave to resign his commission on account of ill-treatment by many of his 
officers, between whom and himself he requested a decision; offered to serve his 
country in any other way. January 22nd, resignation accepted. This was his only 
experience in the Continental Army. 



177'' July 4th, to about January, 1777. Colonel of a Battalion of Associators in the County 
of Philadelphia ("5th" in his commission, "6th" in "Archives"), by appointment of 
the State Assembly. These were new organizations for home defense without pay 
unless called into the field, and when enlisted were sent to Amboy, N. J., for brief 
service in watching the British on Staten Island till more permanent troops were organ- 
ized. As Bull's civilian positions kept him busy in Philadelphia, the Council of Safety 
gave him leave of absence only from August 17th to September loth in order to be 
with his battalion in the field. (Perhaps the men were there no longer than that; all 
Associator battalions were disbanded early in 1777.) Arms and ammunition being still 
scarce, their weapons included pikes and "tomahawks." 

1777, February 15th to June 17th. Colonel Commandant of the fortifications at Billingsport : 
a resumption of his civilian work as General Superintendent, with added military 
authority over the troops stationed there. Appointed by the Council of S"afety (of 
which Bull was member) and paid at rate of $85 per month. During this period Bull 
also constructed the principal part of Port Mercer, at Red Bank, N. J., opposite the 
mouth of tne Schuylkill, which was intended to protect the chevaux-de-frise which he 
laid in the Delaware channel between it and Fort Mifflin on Mud Island. He also 
placed similar obstructions in the channel opposite Billingsport, a few miles below, but 
when he left in June there was still a ^ew weeks' more work needed to complete the 
whole. When the British arrived in the autumn they did not attempt to break through 
these defenses, but troops were sent by land to take them in the rear, so the Americans 
left them without fighting. The enemy partly dismantled or burned these fortifications 
and took up some of the river obstructions; the rest remained till removed in 1784. 

1777, May 2nd to June 17th. Colonel of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot, appointed 
by the new Board of War. Commission issued May 8th. This regiment was being 
formed from remnants of several former regiments which had been under Bull to some 
degree at Billingsport, N. J., and other points on the Delaware River within a few 
miles of Philadelphia, and was intended for defense of the city. In April, Bull had 
reported that he was trying to "cultivate a little harmony" in the so-called regiment, 
but its officers had not yet been commissioned as such and "a great number of the 
privates are prisoners upon parole (a circumstance perhaps new)," and there was 
general jealousy and dissatisfaction. April 30th the officers received commissions and 
(according to the journal of one of the Lieutenants) "proceeded to the arrangement of 
the officers," and early next morning the "regiment was properly arranged, after 
which three companies * * * were entertained oy a harmonious band of music and 
passed the day in jolity." The appointment of Bull caused a violent protest and 
threats of resignation from all the officers, who claimed, in a Memorial to the Assembly 
of the State, they had been promised they should "rise by seniority in Battalion" so 
that by appointment of a Colonel from outside they "consider themselves very much 
aggrieved, as thereby what little Rank they hold in the service of the State is Entirely 
Destroyed." June 2nd the strength of the regiment was 44 officers and 524 men. 
June 10th the Assembly voted to transfer the regiment to the Continental Congress for 
incorporation in the Continental Army, and June 17th the promotion of Bull was fol- 
lowed by the appointment of a new Colonel. The latter invited the delighted officers to 
"meet him at 4 P. M. at the City Tavern" where they celebrated by "drinking some 
gallons of Madeira." This regiment was ordered away and became the 13th Pennsyl- 
vania (Colonel Walter Stewart). November 12, 1777, it was incorporated in the Con- 
tinental Army. 

1777, June 17th, to January 13, 1778. Adjutant General of the Militia of Pennsylvania, ap- 
pointed by the Board of War. This was the most stirring and critical period of the Revo' 
tion about Philadelphia, and Bull had manifold duties and responsibilities. General 
Armstrong was in command of all the State Militia, 4000 men being called out at the 
end of July and most of them sent to Wilmington when Howe's army began to disem- 
bark (August 25th), after which they were used as a reserve for the Continental Army 
and for local defense. Orders and letters show Bull providing the militia with weapons 
and food, and some time after the battle of Germantown (October 4th), when several 
militia officers were lost, he succeeded General Irvine in command of the Second Bri- 
gade on the east side of the Schuylkill, but (so far as I now know) he did not partici- 
pate in any battle during any part of his military career. His one recorded experience 
of fighting was when "a large body" of the enemy went on a foraging raid to the 
northwest of Philadelphia, December 11th to 26th, and Bull was ordered, December 24tli, 
to make a demonstration toward the city to "alarm them In Order to Call their atten- 
tion from Plundering in Chester County." He reported, after reaching the "Northern 
Liberties" of the city, between Third and Fourth streets, and "Within Musquet Shot 
of the Enemies Line," that "I drew up my little Division and haveng Our Two Twelve 
Pounders, with 2 comps of artilery, I rather strechd my orders by Sending them 8 well 
diracted Cannon Ball, Which no Doubt Took Place near ye Church." (The aim was 
good, for they did fall near Christ Church and "alarmed the city" without doing any 
damage.) Bull's report concludes: "We Wish'd them a Merry Crismes by causeing 
them to Beat to arms and fire their Cannon from the Lines from all Qurs., their Ball 
Raked our Little Parade both on Right and Left, but without the Least Damage. We 
brought of one Prisoner, some of their Horses, &c." 

Colonel Bull appeared before the Supreme Executive Council on January 13, 1778, 
made a report, and presented account for his pay for the past eleven months, which was 
ordered paid. (For time as Adjutant General, at rate of $100 per month.) The Council 
then resolved that on account of reducing the militia an Adjutant General would not be 
necessary in future and therefore ordered that the office be abolished and that "Colo. 
Bull be informed, in the most respectful terms." 

1779, October. "President Reed announced that he intended to take the field at the head of 
the Penna. troops, and Col. Bull was appointed adjutant-general" but "the projected 
movement was abandoned." (I have not verified this.) 



CIVILIAN POSITIONS HELD BY COLONEL JOHN BULL 

1761, February 28th (perhaps earlier) till the Revolution (apparently). One of the Justices 
of the Peace for the County of Philadelphia. He was also one of the Justices of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions of the county. 

1774, November to September 17, 1776. Was, by election, one of 40 members of the Commit- 
tee of Inspection and Observation of the County of Philadelphia (this did not include 
the city), the duty of which was to detect persons not conforming to the patriotic 
"articles of Association" (for trade boycott and price control), which the new Conti- 
nental Congress had framed. These county committees were formed from the members 
of earlier township committees who had been on the side of the colonies from the begin- 
ning. John Bull signed a resolution as chairman of this committee, July 20, 1776, but 
Colonel William Hamilton had been chairman in June and May preceding. May 18, 1776, 
this committee appealed to the Assembly of Pennsylvania to "maintain liberty even if 
forced most unwillingly to declare independence." These committees were dissolved 
after nearly two years' activity. 



ilft r n n 1 1 1 jTiT n in— y»riT-m ) as one 
littee of Inspection Pennsylvania 



1775, January 23rd to 28th. Member of Second 0( ^^'i<Kaxt- 
of 12 chosen to represent the Philadelphia Count'l' Ijommi 

was now in fact governed by citizen's committees which had superseded the old, too- 
loyally disposed, Assembly (i. e.. Legislature). This convention voted its determination 
to take up arms if redress was not obtainable from Parliament, "though loyal harmony is 
preferred," and it voted unanimously to urge a law prohibiting future importation of 
slaves into Pennsylvania. 

1775, September 3rd. Defeated in election for Sheriff of Philadelphia County by William 
Dewees, who had long held the office ; vote was nearly two to one. 

1776, February 8th, Continental Congress resolved "That the 250,000 Dollars voted yesterday 
[for the use of the army at Cambridge], be sent to the Paymaster-General under the 
care of Mr. Bull, and two other trusty persons." February 13th the Treasurer was 
ordered to advance "colonel Bull" $150 to defray his expenses in carrying this money. 
February 26th a letter from General Washington acknowledged receipt of a letter brought 
to him from Philadelphia by "Col. Bull" the evening before. (This is the only 
occasion known to me when he traveled north of Pennsylvania.) 

1776, June 18th to 25th. Member of Pennsylvania Provincial Conference of Committees of In- 
spection. This unanimously approved of a declaration of independence and ordered elec- 
tions to a convention to frame a new Constitution for the Province. For attendance at 
this convention Bull was paid £3, 18s, lOp. 

1776, July 15th to September 28th. Member of convention which set aside all old govern- 
ment, prepared and passed a new constitution and took other important actions. Frank- 
lin was chairman. Bull was one of eight representatives, elected July 8th, from Phila- 
delphia County. He was member of several important committees, and was paid 
£19, 10s, 2d for attendance. Was given leave of absence August 17th to visit the camp 
at Amboy (where his regiment was), but was back September 16th. 

1776, July 23rd to March 13, 1777. Member of the Council of Safety (David Rittenhouse, 
chairman; 25 members), by election of the Constitutional Convention. The Council was 
authorized to exercise the whole of the executive powers of government so far as relate 
to the military defense and safety of the province, superseding the former Committee of 
Safety ; and, in fact, took entire control between the end of the old governmental agen- 
cies and the organization of the new. The courts having suspended their activities 
since June, the convention on September 3'rd appointed the members of the Council of 
Safety as Justices of the Peace for the State with power "to take acknowledgments of 
deeds, and cognizance of criminal offences and breaches of the peace, And in cases of 
petty larceny, under 3 shillings, to proceed to punishment." (County Justices had 
previously been appointed.) 

1776, August 6th to . One of six Commissioners for Philadelphia County 

named by the convention in accordance with an ordinance "to hear and determine the 
cases of all persons in prison." (This was to correct injustices done under the old gov- 
ernment.) 

1776, September 26th to December 2nd. General Superintendent of the Works at Billingsport, 
New Jersey, by appointment of Council of Safety. Continental Congress had ordered 
the approach to Philadelphia by water to be defended, at its expense, and Kosciusko had 
drawn plans for a fort at Billingsport, about 12 miles down the river, with chevaux-de- 
frise, which was now to be built by Bull, with Captain B. Jones as engineer. This 
work was interrupted by orders to evacuate the place, and when resumed, in February 
following. Bull returned there as Colonel Commandant (see "Military"). 

1776, November 12th. Council of Safety ordered a great quantity of valuable military stores 
immediately removed "to Col. Bull's at Norrington" and he was directed to procure 
proper guards for them. (A large part of his estate there had been sold a few days 
before this.) December 13th these were transferred to Lancaster, and for 12 days at this 
time Bull was busy procuring wagons "for the army" but also used by civilians who 
were fleeing from the expected British. Yet this did not materially interfere with his 
presence at the constant meetings of the Council during the winter; the following con- 
ference with the Indians, however, occasioned his absence for two weeks. 

1777, January 26th to February . Commissioner to treat with Indians at Easton, North- 
ampton County, representing, with Colonel Dean, the Council of Safety. Two othet 
Commissioners were from the Continental Congress and remaining two from the Assem- 
bly. The Indian Commissioners were six chiefs, representing the six nations, who had 



come, with about 300 other Indians, to complain of the breaking of the Fort Stanwix 
treaty (1768) in that whites had gone into their land and bought tracts from their young 
men, whom they could not control. They made various other complaints and requests, 
and repeatedly asked that Colonel Bull, "whom thev seemed to look at as particularly 
charged with the execution of their private affairs" (according to Minutes of the Pro- 
ceedings), should be appointed as a permanent Indian Commissioner. They called Bull "a 
strong man raised like a great tree, that we can depend upon," and gave Indian names to 
him and the other Commissioners. Congress had appropriated $1(XX) to buy presents for 
these Indians, but had given no instructions to the Commissioners, and their recommenda- 
tions received scanty attention. The following May, Bull memorialized Congress, saying 
the Indians had sent messengers to him asking for action, but he could do nothing unless 
officially appointed. May 27th Congress resolved that the legislative power or Assembly 
of Pennsylvania ought to take action either by removing the settlers from Indian lands 
or by compensating the Indians, but the Assembly only discussed and postponed. In an 
official letter from Bull of July 9, 1779, he thus deplores the failure of his efforts, which 
"had they been properly attended to I am Clearly of opinion might Easily have pre- 
serv'd the Interest of many of those Indians and thereby not only Prevented the De- 
struction of Wioming but would have been the means of Saving the Lives of many and 
Preserving in some measure the Peace of the Frontiers of this State in Particular.' 

1777, February 14th to October 13th. Member of the first Assembly (i. e., sole legislative 
body) of the State of Pennsylvania under its new constitution. Elected by the freemen 
of Philadelphia County to fill one of the vacancies occasioned by four members-elect not 
having qualified. Took seat February 18th. March 21st Assembly took a recess; was in 
session May 21st to June 19th; recessed again till September loth, when it got a quorum 
by having ordered the members who were in camp to attend. It passed a pension law 
for wounded soldiers, drafted by a committee of five, including Bull, and adjourned to 
Lancaster on the 18th, as the British were fast approaching Philadelphia. It met there 
October 6th and adjourned on the 13th. Bull's name appears in the proceedings a 
number of times, in spite of the fact that he was simultaneously in the army, either in 
command at Billingsport or as Adjutant General, and during the first two months was 
likewise a member of the executive government of the S'tate, not to mention that in the 
first month he was also ex-officio a Justice of the Peace. A record of simultaneous 
activities which it would be hard to excel! 

1777, March 13th to April 10th. Member Pennsylvania Board of War. On March 4th the 
Supreme Executive Council was organized under the new constitution and, after reserving 
to itself the civil department "which requires great attention," it delegated full execu- 
tive power over military matters to a Board of War and a Navy Board ; the former of 
nine members, with David Rittenhouse as chairman. Thus was the Council of Safety 
(of which Bull had been member) transformed and its work better distributed. The 
board held daily meetings, but Bull was present only six times, — after the Assembly had 
recessed. On April 10th a new board was formed, with only three of the original mem- 
bers and two new ones. 

(It was in September of this year. 1777, that the British burned much of Bull's 
property at Norrington and his family had to flee.) 

1778, January 19th. Bull, having received word that he was no longer Adjutant General while 
he was at Hummelstown on his way to his "Distress'd family" "in a Distant Land," 
wrote a touching letter on his "fate" in now being inactive, after all his public services 
and private misfortunes, which he thought justified a better treatment. He appears to 
have been on his way to Berkeley, (West) Virginia, at this time. 

1778, August 31st to . Confirmed (continued?) by the Assembly as one of the Jus- 
tices of the County Courts. 

1778, August 31st. Reported to the Supreme Executive Council that at their request he had 
"view'd" the bridge over Schuylkill at Flatland Ford, near "Valley Forge; that it re- 
quired immediate repairs, and specified these in detail. I presume he was directed to 
make them. 

1778, September 12th to December 3rd. Again Superintendent of Works at Billingsport and 
Mud Island. The British having left Philadelphia in June, the Council determined to 
repair the damage they had done, erect some batteries, temporary barracks, etc., restor- 
ing the river defenses, and directed Bull to employ workmen and procure or buy the 
materials to complete the work as expeditiously as possible. He was to be paid £3 per 
diem and forage for one horse, and he received £50 for a "ration account," apparently 
in addition. On July 9th he reported to the Council that he was "Exceedingly Morti- 
fied and Embaras'd" to find that he could not procure the laborers to carry on more 
than a part of the work, so that he was "not fully Employed," and suggested that ft 
might be desirable for him to be sent temporarily to the "Frontiers of this Province" to 
exert desirable influence on the Indians, as he had done on previous occasions. Council 
evidently thought he could not be spared, for it sent a "request" to the troops sta- 
tioned about Billingsport to help Colonel Bull "in a Service of so much Importance to 
the City." 

1779, February 27th to November 25th. Continued the above work, which after May 14th was 
done in accordance with plans of the French General, Du Portail. Paid $24 a day "for 
his trouble and service." 

1779, autumn and winter. Superintendent of repairs on a house at Sixth and Market streets 
owned by the State through confiscation from a Tory, and declared to be the official 
residence of the President of the Supreme Executive Council (this title was changed 
later to that of Governor of the State). 



1779, September 17th. In a letter of this date Bull and Charles Wilson Peale are called "two 
of the committee of this city," i. e., Philadelphia. (In November and December of 1778 
Bull — then called in deeds "of Berkeley, Va." — had bought two adjoining houses on 
Mulberry, now Arch, Street, between Seventh and Eighth, where he may have been living 
at this time, and also a large lot at the northwest corner of Mulberry and Seventh. The 
last he sold in 1786 to David Rittenhouse, who made it famous as the site of his home 
and of his observatory.) 

1780, January. Commissioner to a national convention to limit the prices of merchandise, 
which had been called by a meeting at Hartford, Conn., October 20th previous, and 
assembled at Philadelphia January 5. One of three (from Pennsylvania?). 

1780, April 1st to November 27th, and perhaps longer. Commissioner of Purchases for Phila- 
delphia County. Appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, evidently to do all the 
buying in said county for the state government. Required to give bond in the sum of 
£30,000. 

1780, June 2nd to July 5th. By appointment of the Council, with two others, buyer of pro- 
visions and other necessaries for the Federal Army, in Philadelphia County, in accord- 
ance with an act passed recently to meet an urgent temporary need. 

(These are the last of Bull's public offices in the Revolution. He sold his Philadel- 
phia house in 1782, and appears to have continued to travel often between Philadelphia 
and Berkeley until he finally settled in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.) 

1786, June. Bull came to Philadelphia from Northumberland County with public dispatches 
respecting some disturbances at Wioming. For this he was paid his account of £8, 15s. 
He is said to have moved to Northumberland the previous year. In 1787 he was taxed 
there for having one negro — a man he had bought in 1778. 

1802, Was a candidate for the State Legislature, but defeated by Simon Snyder, the incumbent 
and Speaker of the House, afterward Governor of Pennsylvania. (In 1790 the former 
single legislative body, the Assembly, had been superseded by the Senate and House 
plan.) 

1803, December 6th to April 3, 1804. Was member of the Fourteenth House of Representa- 
tives of Pennsylvania, which sat at Lancaster between these dates. There were 86 mem- 
bers in all, the four from N'orthumberland County including Simon Snyder and John Bull. 
Bull was immediately put on the committee "on roads and inland navigation" (one of 
the three large standing committees), and also served on special committees, including 
one "of grievances" appointed December 8th. Bull belonged to the Federal party. 

1804, December 4th to April 4, 1805. Member of the Fifteenth House, serving on the same 
committees as the previous year. 

1805, December 3rd to March 31, 1806. Member of the Sixteenth House, of which his nephew, 
John Gronow Bull, was also a member, from Chester County. He was present through 
the session and was on some special committees, but not on the large ones above named. 

This ended the long and honorable public career of John Bull, when he had almost 
reached his seventy-fifth birthday. 




















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